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Well you have to do factory reset *after* you update the firmware. It's the firmware change that messes up the settings (if you downgrade or move to a side version like tinker marlin).

So it seems the solution was a "factory reset". More details 4 posts up.

by the way I hope you wrote down how many hours your printer has been used. It's possible that particular data is not erased on a factory reset - not 100% certain.

You can email tech support with the serial number and they can tell you who the reseller is and when it was built. Support is free as long as they don't have to send you any parts. on top right of this page click the nine dots, then "support" then on the top of the screen "submit a request". Your excuse for mailing them can be "do I have the newer feeder" or something like that.

The temp is chosen so that it is not too hot and not too cold. If too hot it comes out too easily and most of the molten plastic stays in the nozzle. If too cold you can't get it out (although some have said you can twist the filament even at room temperature - I've not really tried that).

This is for polycarbonate, right? PLA is around 90-100C but I don't know about PC. I assume PC is much hotter but I don't know.

20th try? How hard can it be. If it's too cold you can't pull it out. If it's too hot it comes out too easy. Pull very hard. Harder than enough force to lift the printer off the table.

@rockerito91, there is one cheaper solution - you can get a PCB for the UM2 through Alibaba. It will be a different chinese made board and might not work and may take 4 weeks to arrive but it will be probably 5X cheaper. The PCB is open source so it's easy for someone to download the PCB files and order/make their own. The harder part is getting the correct parts and soldering them in the right places.

Most versions of Marlin do not let you switch to E2 in the firmware. Possibly the TinkerGnome version of Marlin does but most people don't install that. I love that version myself. Anyway @rockerito91 has been building Marlin himself and apparently has found how to edit pins.h which lets you change any axis to use any pins which makes it pretty trivial to switch (in this case) the Z axis to drive out to the E2 driver. @rockerito91 has even replaced the arduino chip so he seems pretty competent in things firmware and hardware. More than me!

The retraction is set on the actual printer. The default I think is 4mm as Slashee suggests. Note that you DO NOT have a "plus" so if you have the "plus" firmware that could be your entire problem and no need to read further until you fix the firmware. reset to factory defaults Hmm. So now I'm thinking the firmware normally retracts an extra amount at the very end of the print. I forgot about that. Like 20mm normally. On purpose. And it's not in the gcode it does it automatically. So now I'm thinking the retraction is part of the firmware (like it's supposed to retract 20mm but your version is extruding 20mm or something) and now that makes me realize something. There is a special area of memory on the arduino chip. There is the ram, there is the eeprom that stores the firmware and there is this 3rd area that is basically another eeprom. Marlin (the firmware on UM2 printers) stores a bunch of things in here like leveling Z height, how tall the printer is (um2go, um2, um2ext have different values), and about 200 other parameters (where to move to prime the nozzle, a list of known filament types and what temp and things to print them at, what fan speed). One of those parameters might be the "retract at end of print job amount". It probably unretracts the same amount right at the start of printing before it primes. Maybe. Anyway - this area can be corrupted when you change firmwares. There is a data version number (similar to a firmware version) and anytime someone added or changed the data that goes in this special location, they would increment the firmware version. And there is a pretty big chunk of code that when you boot after a new firmware install, it looks at the version number and automatically moves all the data as needed and fills in default values as needed to the latest version. That chunk of code of course can only understand older firmware. It's impossible for older firmware to know the future and know how to translate the other direction. If anyone *ever* downgraded the firmware, what happens is it can get wild values in there. The value for where to prime might get stored in the location for final retraction and what should be 20 is now 200. The fix is to do: RESET TO FACTORY DEFAULTS Something like that - it's somewhere in the menu system on the printer. It's annoying because now it thinks it is a brand new printer and you have to level it again and you use all your odometer-like counters. Before you do this write down how many hours the printer has been printing and any other information like that! option 3: switch to marlin flavor gcode Another thing to try is to switch to Marlin flavor gcode. The um2 has it's own special flavor of gcode. For example the G10, G11 commands are unusual in Marlin (but part of the standard) and many printers don't support that so Cura can output the "E-4" like command for retraction that slashee suggests by changing one thing in Cura. It's in the machine settings. Without looking right now - go to PREPARE mode on screen and towards top left click on your printer and then look for machine settings and in there you have a few options for gcode flavor. If it's on UM2 flavor switch to marlin I think? Just try one of the other options. I don't recommend this route as personally I prefer controlling fan speed, temperature, etc on the printer. I have multiple UM2 printers and they each have different temps for the bed temp but with um2 flavor gcode I can print the same job on each printer. When you change the flavor you will suddenly see about 20 new parameters appear in cura which control nozzle temp, bed temp, fan speed, filament diameter, retraction distance, and more.

I don't know but if the temp is too low you can't get the filament out of the nozzle. And if the temp is too high it comes out too easily. So just start experimenting. When you get close you crank the heat and pull hard at the same time and remember what temp it was at when you finally get it out. Then you will know it's somewhere near that temp (a bit lower). Keep experimenting. By the 3rd time you try it you'll probably know the proper temp.

Or if the 24V was somehow plugged in backwards. It shouldn't be possible but maybe if you shove the plug hard enough. Yeah that seems more likely than the over voltage scenario.

e2 stepper also dead? Something very weird here. That driver shouldn't have ever been used so it should be fine. Okay - I can imagine if the 24V went to 50V, that could destroy all 5 stepper drivers simulataneously. It would only have to be 50V for a few seconds.

100% Well then I don't know why it does this long extrusion. I have 3 um2go's and a um2 and I haven't seen this behavior in probably 5 years.

Possibly related - this isn't a "plus" printer - at least the print head is the "classic" print head. Possibly you have a "plus" feeder. The original feeders are black and the "plus" feeders are white and have a lever sticking out the side of the feeder that you can use to manually insert and remove filament.

Okay so this is new information. I didn't believe you when earlier you said the nozzle kept extruding. This is 90% most likely from the G10. Which is surprising. G10 is supposed to retract but it looks like it is extruding. A lot. I've seen this before on UM2 printers. I noticed that this seemed to happen consistently if I messed with the "flow" on the printer. If I adjust the flow manually in the TUNE menu. What would happen is it translates all the E values (the extrusion amounts) by the flow percentage. And at the same time it is keeping track of two positions now - the virtual position of the E drive and the actual position. Then at the end somehow it uses the wrong value I think. That's my theory. I never really figured it out. My fix was to just adjust the flow in cura (which does all the math internally and sends the adjusted E values into the gcode file). Anyway - did you mess with flow manually on the printer?

Best place to buy Ultimaker parts in USA is fbrc8.com. If they don't have it in their web shop then just email them: sales@fbrc8.com. They will sell you any part. They will want your serial number. They build every Ultimaker printer sold in USA so of course they have all the parts. However they might force you to use a reseller inside your country. But give it a try. Resellers can also sell any part - the parts just aren't always in the webshop.

slashee, yes it's 0.4mm by default but the "plus" should have come with a .25, .6 and .8 as well. I'd ditch the raft. You don't need a raft for PLA. The raft technology is a very old technology that isn't used much in the last 10 years. It was before we had heated beds and before we had PLA. If you have PLA *or* a heated bed you don't need raft. However you do need some glue on that bed. The printer should have a glue stick. Put just a little bit on there and spread it around even thinner with a wet tissue and let dry (by the time the bed hits 60C, it should be dry. What brand PLA are you using? What temperature is there in the default settings for the nozzle? This is all just weird. I'm thinking it's not the bowden that is the problem. The bowden NEVER gets filament stuck in it. No matter what. Even if the fan fails in the print head. I mean it's possible there is some problem that makes the filament get too wide in the teflon part but by the time you get up into the bowden the diameter is now larger and things are usually too cool to cause the filament to widen like that. Maybe this is some weird extra soft PLA? (a) Instead I suspect the white teflon part but I'm not certain. It's just... weird. I'm very tempted to tell you to replace the teflon part. It can go bad with a mere 500 hours of printing. You didn't answer about if your STL has thousands of retractions. Like railings or voronoi for example. If you look at any individual slice, how many separate islands are there? (You need one retraction for each island). (b) Also a 0.8mm wide line width is very difficult for a 0.4 nozzle especially the first layer. That alone can cause the whole problem. Perhaps you are leveling too close to the bed - I'd love to see what your first layer looks like. Right now I'm leaning to "a" or "b".

You don't need to add machine profiles. When you open the 3mf file it will create the machine profile automatically. I have like 3 different ender 3 profiles all pulled in from 3mf files and 2 of them must have been tweaked by the user or something. Also why do you need the 3mf? Also he created one for you with generic PLA so if it still doesn't work then something is wrong with your cura local files but cleaning that up will make you lose all profiles so I don't know what you can do @Slashee_the_Cow. When I say "local files" I mean your installation is probably fine but the "customizations" are somehow messed up for the UM2. The fix is normally to delete all those files and they will get recreated when cura launches. But you will lose all your profiles and stuff that don't come with the fresh install of cura. Either. Both. If you add it before the G10 then it will move before retracting so you might get a very very thin string moving upwards but at least it will sit there on the top of your print (potentially melting it) for a full 1/4 second less time. If you add it after the G10 then it will retract before moving. I'd try after the G10 and if it still pauses then I'd move it before the G10. Then post what you learn. That other move that starts with "G1" is the final printing move. Note that it includes X, Y, E. Those are the positions to move those 3 axes to in millimeters. If it has an "E" then it's an extruding move. M107 I think turns off a heater or fan. You can google "reprap gcode" for details on what the gcodes do. There are only about 10 gcodes used by cura so it's not a big deal to look them all up.

Well I simplified. I think it might be 40C on UM2. On S3/S5/S7/UM3 the fan comes on above 40C if the heater is on and turns off when below 60C when heater is off. The fan can be VERY quiet and it works just fine. I don't think that's it. So summarizing: 1) The pla still softens but it stays in the bowden now you don't have to take the head completely apart? 2) It still stops extruding and it still gets stuck but only in the bowden now? This seems very unusual. What temp are you printing at? What is your printing speed - please tell me: layer height print "speed" line width (I multiply these together to get volume/sec and that's what I sometimes mean by printing speed) The grinding by the feeder is normal if things get clogged. You shouldn't get expansion in the bowden. Sometimes it happens for prints with tens of thousands of retractions. Prints that have maybe 100 islands per layer. This is common in architectural parts that have lots of banisters where you are printing 100 of those posts on the same layer. It's also common on "voronoi" prints (google it). But overall it's extremely rare to have a print that has too many retractions per layer. With every retraction you are pulling the heat up higher towards the bowden. Still - it's usually not a problem - it depends on your model. Another thing that makes the filament swell is if you get a jam and the filament is now no longer moving through the nozzle and no longer moving the heat down and out the nozzle. So it's possible the whole problem is the jam and all the things you are noticing are the side effect. Here's a good test - heat the nozzle and do "move" or "move material" or whatever the menu item is. Try to extrude as fast as possible which means not going too fast as you go too fast it then slows down. Make a kink or something in the filament and time how long it takes to get down to the glass bed. 10 seconds is typical for a UM2+

Oh. So I see above there is information somewhat disagreeing with my post. I'm still skeptical. So since you have part numbers above, you can order the left and/or right feeder from any Ultimaker reseller in europe. Just because they don't show it on their website doesn't mean they can get it for you. By contract I think they are required to sell you parts.

I don't think you can get the S5 feeder to work on the UM3. I mean it would require drilling holes (I assume). Plus the steps/mm is probably different so you would have to edit that in the firmware. And anytime you update your S5 firmware you would have to do the edit again. Although that's not too hard as it's explained on bondtech's page if you upgrade to a bondtech feeder. So why do you want to change feeders? Is it the convenience of the lever? The hardened steel feeder? Or some other reason? Also the flow sensor will be ignored in UM3 firmware.

This is true for an Ender 3 or any prusa style printer but for an Ultimaker 2 series the bed moves (not the print head which stays up in the gantry) and it moves down to home so it's the safest thing after a print and in fact the printer homes all axes automatically after the print is over. But why it pauses for so long I don't know. The only thing this is used for is to estimate how much longer it will take to finish the print. That's the only thing that information is used for. But good thinking outside the box. 🙂

Are you saying that you removed those wires and when you soldered them back on you did it backwards? And then you realized the issue and had to reverse the 2 wires back to original positions?

No need to cut a whole inch off the end of the bowden! 3mm is plenty! Plus if the bowden is slipping you would know. So don't cut the bowden unless it is coming out of the print head (or feeder). I think you figured it out. You had 2 problems: 1) Bowden not all the way inserted properly. Sometimes it takes a lot of frustrating effort to get it into that aluminum cylinder. 2) Rear fan not spinning. There are 3 fans on the print head. Not 2. There are 2 on the side and one on the rear. The rear fan should come on as soon as the head passes 60C. Anytime the head is above 60C the rear fan should be on. Sometimes threads of filament can clog the fan. This is kind of uncommon (the threads are common - but usually the fan doesn't care). Sometimes the fan just dies. Most often one of the wires breaks or a connector pulls out. The problem is usually inside the print head or in the few inches above the print head. There is a connection in there - typically just above the print head hiding inside the cable sleeving. Anyway, manually heat the print head to 80C and make sure the rear fan spins up once the temp passes above 60C.